The Puerto Princesa City Water District stated on October 28 that they are actively looking for other reservoirs of fresh surface water, following future expansion projects to the other remaining barangays.
Walter Laurel, general manager for the Puerto Princesa City Water District (PPCWD), stated that the current reservoirs of water used for 56,000 active connections in the city would not be enough to ensure a steady supply of water during emergencies, such as when the city is struck by the El Niño phenomenon.
He said that when they took the rising population in Puerto Princesa into account, they found that the current water supply could not keep up with the rate when projecting the trend of active connections to the PPCWD.
Presently, the daily demand for water in Puerto Princesa City was at 52,000 cubic meters per day, including losses, according to Laurel.
“Kung ifa-factor mo yung ating annual growth, every year, our demand increases by 3,000 cubic meters per day. Kung 52 tayo ngayon, at the end of next year, it will be at 55. Next year, it will be at 58. Kaya sa tatlong taon na cycle, close to [10,000] ang idadagdag. Kung wala kang gagawing drastic in the next three years, expect natin na rationing na naman,” Laurel said, stating that it was prudent to prepare for the eventual lack.
He relayed this during the same press conference where they announced a possible ₱2.50 hike for the water bill to compensate for recent power hikes, as they needed to regain the profit loss for more funding put into expansions.
This was why PPCWD was looking into water impounding projects for the next three years. Laurel relayed that regardless if the additional ₱2.50 were approved, they would still prioritize the search and development of surface water reservoirs for the city’s supply.
He used the Montible river system as an example, stating that while the Montible river was around 400,000 cubic meters per day, only 30,000 was used by the PPCWD, the rest evaporating or flowing out into the sea.
This would be even less during the summer, with both water demand and evaporation rates higher than ever. While a reservoir would help, Laurel estimated that building the project would cost around ₱3-4 billion.
Other remedies for this shortage would be multi-use infrastructure, such as artificial lakes used for tourism, as well as drilling. However, Laurel cautioned against the timeliness of both and the sustainability of the latter.
He said that their current search for surface waters like river systems was all expensive and pending inspection tests. One such river was within the land parceled to the Bureau of Corrections, where the PPCWD was researching the viability of putting up a 10-kilometer wall as a long-term plan.
Some water sources, such as the Inagawan river system and the sources for the northern barangays, were not viable, as the geotechnical investigation team found high levels of radon in both.
Alternate water ways
If the additional P2.50 peso hike is approved by the Local Water Utilities Administration, the funds will go to four water impounding structure projects slated for 2025.
These included a water source development project near Inagawan, another from Brgy. Maoyon straight to Barangays Manalo and Maruyugon, a water reservoir on donated land in Brgy. Sta. Monica, and additional pipeline expansions in five barangays.
In particular, the second project was already ongoing at 0.60% progress as of August 2024. Laurel said that Maruyugon had an existing transmission and distribution line, but the residents still suffered from poor water quality.
“Sa Lucbuan meron tayong existing 60 cubic meters supply, but the supply is the problem kasi yung ating dalawang deep wells doon ay medyo mababa yung yield. During summertime, mas mahal pa yung krudo na ginagamit sa genset kesa tubig na napo-produce, pero all the same, kailangan nating magserbisyo kaya kailangan nating magoperate,” he said.
The project would eventually extend from Lucbuan to Manalo and possibly Babuyan. They were looking at more sustainable water sources aside from the deep well, and the source located between the boundaries of Maoyon and San Rafael was viable.
Laurel said that it was imperative that residents from the northern barangays had good water supply quality from the start.
PPCWD has spent a total of P 1,041,498,920.92 for water services expansion and improvement since 2021.
From this number, ₱56,844,544.87 was spent from January to August this year alone. The PPCWD will expand on three barangays and add more than 3,000 service connections before the year ends.
